


everything's fine in the morning

by apatternedfever



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Gen, Marauders at Hogwarts era, Marauders make a guest appearence, but it's really Remus' story, the Shrieking Shack, werewolf-related wounds and pains
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-05
Updated: 2013-01-05
Packaged: 2017-11-23 17:53:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 624
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/624968
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/apatternedfever/pseuds/apatternedfever
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Two mornings in the Shrieking Shack, five years apart.</p>
            </blockquote>





	everything's fine in the morning

**Author's Note:**

> Written for [hurt/comfort bingo](http://hc-bingo.dreamwidth.org/), for the prompt "bites".

The morning sun dawn and Remus finds himself on a cold, hard, and more worryingly, unfamiliar floor; and he almost panics before he remembers. No more being locked up in the basement, no more being  _home_. He's at Hogwarts now, and that's wonderful, but that's also terrifying and new and strange and unexpected.  
  
Everything is new, and the transformation is almost a relief, if he thinks of it that way. This he understands. This he  _knows_.  
  
He waits for the worse of the pain to pass before getting gingerly to his feet and opening the locked cabinet, drawing out the supplies he'd worked out with Madame Pomfrey. He's got just enough strength to get down the bucket of water, not quite enough to cast the spell to warm it like he's used to his parents doing. He washes the blood gently from his body, frowning at the marks litering his torso. The wolf wasn't happy. The new territory, Remus is sure of it. He only hopes it won't last too long.  
  
His legs are better, at least; his arms are covered in bites, chunks of flesh missing, his torso loaded with scratches and splinters, but he can stand. That will make it easier to convince Madame Pomfrey to let him back to class sooner. He doesn't want to get behind in the first month of his first year, after all.  
  
\---  
  
There's pain when Remus wakes up to the sun, but it's not nearly as bad as he's used to. It surprises him, and then he cracks his eyes open and sees Sirius, Peter, and James watching him with matching frowns, and that surprises him anymore.  
  
That's when the night before comes flooding back, and then he has to look away. He never wanted them to see him like this. No one should know what the morning after is like. Still... some part of him, some quiet corner of his brain is still overjoyed, full of the lightness of last night. So happy to have friends willing to do this for him. So happy to have friends at all.  
  
He starts for his cabinet as usual, but Sirius moves forward, wand and bucket already in hand. Remus is too tired to argue -- and it's so strange, being tired out from running around the room and playing, instead of tired out from fighting himself and wanting something to bite.  
  
They start out silently, and Remus pretends not to see the concerned looks Sirius and James throw back and forth as they take turns cleaning him off, but they don't stay quiet for long.   
  
"Are you all right?" Peter asks urgently, watching James sponging at a fresh bite just under his wrist -- very fresh, it must have been from the pain of the transformation. He winces, more at the water on his skin than at the words, and nods.  
  
"This is a good night. It's usually worse," he admits, and isn't sure what to do when they look alarmed at that.  
  
"So we helped?" Sirius asks cautiously, and Remus nods.  
  
"Thank you," he says, finding the words now that his mouth literally didn't have the capacity for when they came to him last night. "I can't imagine how much you've worked on this. I can't -- you didn't --"  
  
"Remus," James cuts him off, his tone fond and still a little worried. "It's nothing, mate. We're just glad we can help."  
  
Remus swallows, hard, and looks down, and offers his other arm when James prompts him. The water is warm, cleaning away the blood and dirt, and even if all it's doing is revealing the scratches that liter his body, old and new, it still feels good. It makes the old ritual feel like the start of something new.


End file.
